What Wile E. Coyote Taught Me About Chasing New Ideas and Learning to Focus
Do you remember the Wile E. Coyote/Roadrunner cartoon? I know, I am dating myself, but this was a popular cartoon growing up. In it Wile E. Coyote has a goal: to catch the Roadrunner.
But he never does. Why?
Well, I would guess it is because he uses too many different methods or strategies that he doesn’t really think though when he implements the ideas.
Warner Brothers Cartoons, Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote
So how does this relate to chasing new ideas and learning to focus?
When we are working on our business, we have a goal in mind (or at least we should have a set goal).
It could be to make the best knitted sweaters or write a best selling book. Or it might be we want to be the go to person others listen to or maybe we simply want to change others lives for the better. What ever our goal is, we need a way to get there: a map, a plan, an outline, whatever you want to call it.
1. Stop Chasing New Ideas.
This is a biggie. Just like Wile E. Coyote, we jump from one method or new object to the next without thinking and following through on any of them. Coyote had all these great ideas he was sure would lead him to his goal.Acme company would send him the stuff he needed so he could spend his time building these crazy contraptions. Everyday, our emails, Facebook and Twitter accounts are filled with new ideas on how to do business, ways to make $xxxx amounts of money in XX number of days. We see a thousand and one different methods to do the same thing.
You can make money and be in business online in many different ways. You have to decide on one strategy that you want to begin with.
Clean out your email subscriptions, unsubscribe to all those gurus who only send you the “next big idea” sales letters. Don’t fall for the cartoon Acme company’s contraptions and ideas. Find just one or two people you trust online and follow their advice on how they make money. And no, you don’t have to do everything they do. It’s okay to blaze your own path or as Tiffany Dow says, frankentiff the ideas and methods to your style.
2. Determine what your business is:
Wile E. Coyote’s business was in ideas. He used his ideas to try to reach his goal.
Is it an online presence for your brick and mortar store?
Will you be doing direct sales? Selling stuff as a Franchise?
Are you going to be offering your creative skills as a service helping others? Are you a photographer, a writer or a graphic designer?
Will you be selling a physical product online only? Will you be creating jewelry, pillow covers or custom wood furniture?
Will you be promoting other people’s work? You don’ have a product of your own but want to tell others about all the great things you find?
Will you be creating your own digital products such as eBooks or Kindle books as an information marketer? Do you want to pass along your knowledge to others?
3. Decide on the method/model do you want to follow to get to your goal:
Wile E. Coyote’s methods were all over the map.
You need to figure out what method you will follow.
Will you be using free social media as a way to market your products? Is having your own website something you need for an Ecommerce site? Will you have a membership area or a place for free samples or free products?
Your own website, Ebay, Etsy, Clickbank, Squidoo, Twitter, Facebook pages, LinkedIn, Craigslist are all viable tools.
Will you bring in partners or contractors? Work with affiliates?
If you need some ideas on the different types of blog business models there are, Darren Rowse of Problogger outlined five business models in his post Five Blog Business Models That’ll Make You Money.
Now Wile E. Coyote followed many different methods. Don’t be like him. He was harried, hurried and most often, got not where fast. (Except maybe on the ground under a big rock). That’s not how you want to focus on your business.
It’s okay to be a quitter this time. Quit chasing new ideas.
Be a winner by focusing on the profit producing activities
Stop chasing new ideas and focus on the profit producing activities in your business. Kelly McCausey shows you how developing a tighter focus leads to more profit and less work: The Power of a Focused Business
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